Laura Baugh

Laura Zonetta Baugh (born May 31, 1955) is an American professional golfer, who played the LPGA Tour for 25 years. She is a published writer and golf broadcaster.

Baugh was born in Gainesville, Florida. Her father Hale Baugh, a lawyer who competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics as a modern pentathlete, was a very good amateur golfer, who introduced his children to golf at early ages. She won the National PeeWee Golf Championship five times, her first coming at age three. Her parents divorced when she was 11 years old, and she moved with her mother from their Florida home to Long Beach, California. Lacking the money to pay green fees, she and friends would sneak onto golf courses to play. At age 14 she won her first of two straight Los Angeles Women's City Golf Championships. Her older brother Beau Baugh played professionally for a time. She graduated from high school at the age of 16 with excellent grades. She studied at Long Beach City College and California State University, Long Beach.

In 1971, at the age of 16, at the Atlanta Country Club in Atlanta, Georgia, she defeated Beth Barry, 1 up, in the 36-hole final match to win the U.S. Women's Amateur, becoming the youngest champion in the event's 76-year history to that stage. Her physical appearance brought her considerable publicity, and for 1971 she was chosen as a Los Angeles Times "Woman of the Year". In 1972 she won Golf Digest's "Most Beautiful Golfer." She made a television commercial for UltraBrite toothpaste that won a Clio Award. Baugh was a member of the U.S. teams that won the 1972 Curtis Cup and the 1972 Espirito Santo Trophy, where Baugh finished tied third in the individual competition. Baugh was offered a full academic scholarship to Stanford University, but she declined because Stanford did not have a women's golf team.